Docteur Renaud is a French natural cosmetology brand founded in 1947, it is now part of the Nuxe Group. The products all contain active ingredients taken from fruits, vegetables and flowers – some of which include raspberries, apricots, coconut and carrots. This New Year I’ve been concentrating on my skincare and the product that I have been trying out is Carrot Detox Scrub*, a paraben-free exfoliating cream that harnesses the power of fresh carrot cells which help to revive the radiance of the complexion. Other ingredients include white clay, jojoba beads and bamboo powder. Anything with ‘detox’ in its name has to be good for New Year, right? I have been using Carrot Scrub Detox once a week. I had imagined the product would be orange in colour given that one of the main ingredients is carrot, but it’s actually white with tiny orange exfoliating grains in it and it has a pleasant sweet vegetable-y scent. It’s quite creamy and soft but the grains do feel quite abrasive on the...

When I was recently asked if I wanted to try out these Radical Skincare products I’d never heard of the brand before so I was excited to try out something new. Radical Skincare is an anti-aging skincare brand, based around Trylacel™ technology – a radical breakthrough in technology that keeps antioxidant potency and performance in the product to deliver maximum benefits and results quickly. Radical Skincare founders, sisters Liz and Rachel Edlich, have their photos on the Radical Skincare website and you would never guess that they are aged 50 and 45! I’d love to think that using these products could help me look as young as they do! The products I was sent to try out are Age Defying Exfoliating Pads* & Advanced Peptide Antioxidant Serum*. Radical Skincare Age Defying Exfoliating Pads – this is a large pot containing 60 exfoliating pads that have been soaked in a AHA and BHA-multifruit acid solution, the aim of the pads is to exfoliate the skin and promote cell turnover helping...

I am a big believer in exfoliating your skin regularly in order to keep it smooth and glowing, so when I read about these Brighter By Nature Peel Pads from Origins I just had to try them. I love the Origins brand, their products contain no parabens, phthalates, paraffin or animal ingredients and are based on natural essential oils and plant-based ingredients. Their packaging is nice and simple too, with no gimmicks. This little Brighter By Nature tub contains 40 rounds exfoliating pads – they look a little bit like nail varnish remover pads at first glance. Each pad is textured and soaked in an exfoliating liquid that contains fruit acids which help exfoliate and break down dead skin cells – beware though, they do smell rather strong and potent and can make your eyes water a bit! Simply rub one pad all over the face in little circular movements, concentrating on any areas of skin discolouration or rough skin. Once you have covered half of the face you...

Summer is the time when we all bare our feet – whether it’s walking barefoot along the beach, kicking off your shoes in the back garden, or just wearing a new pair of sandals. So what better time to review this fab duo of foot products from Philosophy! I have been using these for a week or so now, and they are perfect for getting your feet into tip-top condition and ready for those flip flops. Philosophy Footnotes* is an Energizing Foot Scrub – the tube contains a green exfoliator of thick jelly-like consistency which contains a really good concentration of pumice exfoliating grains. It contains eucalyptus and lavender and has a fresh menthol minty fragrance – peppermint is well known for treating feet, providing a refreshing and cooling sensation. A generous amount of the Footnotes scrub should be applied to damp feet and then massaged in circular motions all over the feet for a few minutes. The scrub froths a little when water is added and feels energizing...

Brightening Apricot Scrubble face scrub is the last of the Jason skincare products that I have been trying over the past couple of weeks and it gets a bit of a mixed reaction from me. The face scrub is a pale beige colour and it has a lovely gentle Summery apricot scent. The grains of ‘triple refined Walnut Powder’ are very large compared with the grains in most of the other face exfoliators that I have tried and feel rather harsh and scratchy on the skin. It does leave my skin feeling lovely and soft after use, but then a couple of hours later I get an oily breakout which I can only think must be caused by over-stimulation from the harsh walnut grains. Although my experiences of using Jason Apricot Scrubble have been mixed I am continuing to use it once a week as it does leave my skin feeling smooth, but I definitely wouldn’t use it any more often due to the harshness of the grains. It would probably...

Before I start on this review I have to admit that I’m a big Clarins fan, I’ve been using their products for years. It was the first premium beauty brand that I ever used, and I love their simple packaging and the fact that their products contain natural plant-based ingredients. So, as a result this is one of my favourite scrubs and I wanted to shout about it! The scrub is a white/pale cream coloured cream and contains lots of tiny ‘microbeads’. A Clarins counter assistant once told me that the microbeads are all perfectly round – I’m not sure if that is true or not! – but they certainly don’t scratch or pull the skin. The exfoliating cream should be massaged gently into the skin using circular movements and then washed off with warm water. I like to use a scrub once or twice a week and this is my favourite as it is so gentle. It also has a lovely luxurious fragrance and smells quite special. It leaves my skin feeling...